


Justified and Ancient

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Series: It's Complicated [3]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bananas, Chameleon Arch, Episode: s01e01 Rose, F/M, Rose is the Master, Rose!Master meets Nine, Ten meets Nine, Timey-Wimey, the Master was fobwatched, this references the episode, this series is so AU by now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 18:24:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16392806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: The Master had never particularly wondered, until now, exactly how long the Doctor’s previous regeneration had been gone before he’d returned and told Rose that the TARDIS also travelled in time.But apparently she should have.Or: Rose!Master and the Doctor run into his Ninth regeneration.





	Justified and Ancient

**Author's Note:**

> _*hums 'Justified and Ancient' by the KLF...*_

** Justified and Ancient **

The Master had never particularly wondered, until now, exactly how long the Doctor’s previous regeneration had been gone before he’d returned and told Rose that the TARDIS also travelled in time. 

But apparently she should have.

She was at the markets on a very interesting little planet, and the Doctor had wandered off, as he always did, excited over some novelty, when a voice behind her went, “ _Master?_ ”

That voice… it was amazed, and horrified, and just that bit broken as it said her name. It also carried a very distinctive Northern accent. 

The Master turned around.

Sure enough, there was the Doctor’s Ninth regeneration, the leather jacket-wearing one, and as she turned towards him he got a good look at her face. He gaped in recognition.

“ _Rose?_ ” he said, thunderstruck for a moment, but the Master knew him well enough to know what was coming. 

Sure enough, something dark and dangerous rose from the depths of his soul, a thunderous expression gathering in those blue eyes, like an oncoming storm. 

“What’ve you done to Rose Tyler?”

The Master only grinned at him, delighted by his very presence.

“Who says I did anything?” And then, when he looked more dangerous than ever: “Honestly, anyone’d think you’d never heard of a Chameleon Arch, before.”

Nine paused, an arrested expression on his face.

“…what?”

Of course, that was exactly when his current regeneration rounded the stall that the Master and Nine were standing in front of.

“Master!” the Doctor said excitedly, grinning from ear-to-ear, and brandishing the strangest variety of banana the Master had ever seen. The Master waited patiently for him to notice the obvious. 

The Doctor rattled on, brandishing the bananas.

“Look at them, _Musa thrainia_ , good for desserts and excellent as a snack all on their own, can’t remember the last time I saw…” 

The Master raised one eyebrow and sent Nine a pointed glance. The Doctor turned, still talking, to see what she was looking at–

“…genuine Thrainian bananas…”

– and finally noticed his Ninth regeneration standing there, staring at them both.

“… _oh_.” 

After a second, the Doctor said awkwardly, into the silence: “Hello. Fancy meeting you here.”

The Master rolled her eyes, because _really?_

But Nine was looking between them, most especially at her, an expression of heartbreaking wonder on his face. There was concern, there, too, because he _knew_ her, or thought he did; but the sight of the Master and the Doctor together, acting like two ordinary people sharing each other’s lives instead of like arch-enemies was, it seemed, enough to act as a balm to Nine’s terribly wounded soul.

Of course, being Nine, he only showed it for a moment, before he folded his arms and said, in his most forbidding tone, “So this is what I get up to in the future, is it? Palling around with the Master?”

“Yep,” said the Master, always happy for an argument. Nine shot a glowering look her way, and opened his mouth to deliver what no doubt would have been a blistering retort. The Master only grinned, because she’d _missed_ this particular regeneration of the Doctor’s. 

But the other Doctor intervened.

“It wasn’t her fault,” said the current Doctor, his expression dark and his voice quiet, in the way that mean _run, run, RUN_ for whoever had been foolish enough to earn his ire. “It was Rassilon.”

Nine paused.

“Go on.”

“Trapped in the Time Lock, with no way out,” the Doctor continued. “No way forward, only back. But you know Rassilon – he’s clever. Fiendishly so. So he retroactively implanted a signal in the Master’s mind, all the way back in the moment she first looked into the Untempered Schism, a signal just strong enough for the Time Lords to bring Gallifrey out of the Time Lock – along with everything else that was locked away.”

“You’re joking,” said Nine, going a couple of shades paler than usual.

“It didn’t happen,” said the Master, because arguing was one thing, but the expression of sick horror in Nine’s face was another. “You,” and she used the Gallifreyan form of _you_ which meant, _your future regeneration_ , rather than _your current regeneration,_ “removed the signal before it ever came to that. Looked into my mind, and tore it out.”

“But the damage–” said Nine, still looking pale, because he understood what removing the drums must have done to her mind, after she’d lived with them for so long.

“All fixed, ages ago,” said the Master, her voice gentle. Because this was the version of the Doctor she’d fallen in love with first of all – her snarky, wounded Doctor, who swung between being manically, determinedly cheerful, and brooding over the loss and pain he felt. She loved his current regeneration, too – but there was an especial fondness in her heart for the one she’d lost to time. “It’s all good, I swear.”

“Good to know,” Nine said, after a moment, looking a little less horrified. “So now you travel together, is that it?”

The Master gave him her best, most Rose-like grin.

“Sort of,” she said, and held up one hand, waggling her ring finger – the one with the wedding ring on it.

She and the Doctor had debated going with a wedding ring, because it wasn’t Time Lord tradition, but the Master had argued that it was a symbol of marriage known across half the universe, tangible and easily recognisable, and anyway she wanted a wedding ring so she could show it to all his human companions and watch with amusement as their minds imploded at the implications.

The Doctor had sighed at that particular statement, but he’d agreed to wear a wedding ring anyway.

Now, Nine looked at the ring, with a crinkle between his brows, like he was wondering what it was for. Then he looked at the Master.

“Wait –that’s not–” he said, still frowning, and then he looked to the Doctor, the penny dropping, “– _you’re_ not–” He stopped there, looked dumbfounded, and a bit like he wondered if they were playing a practical joke on him.

“Married?” the Doctor suggested. “Yup. Three months now, in our timeline.” He looked particularly pleased with himself.

“Stop looking so smug,” the Master told him. “It’s not like I had many other options.”

“Ohhh, you love me, and you know it,” said the Doctor, looking even more self-satisfied than before.

“You got married,” said Nine, sounding like he was still stuck on that fact. “To each other.”

“That’s what the matching rings mean, yeah,” said the Master.

“No need to get sarcastic.” Nine got a vaguely injured expression on his face. “Excuse me if I’m having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around the fact that me and my arch-nemesis _got married_.” 

“Please, like you’re not the king of being snarky yourself,” said the Master. “And why’s it so surprising? You and me, we’ve been circling each other for ages. Maybe not with romance in mind, but we were always… something. Compelled towards each other in one way or another.”

“I suppose.” Nine didn’t sound convinced.

“Anyway,” said the Doctor, “where are you in your personal timeline, exactly?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” asked the Master, before Nine could respond. “Somewhere after first meeting me as Rose, but before you went back and told me that TARDIS also travels in time.”

“Does that make a difference?” asked Nine, looking reluctantly curious. 

“Oh, yeah,” said the Doctor. “The moment I said the old girl travels in time, Rose practically jumped at the chance to travel with me.”

“Can’t believe I didn’t mention the time travel,” Nine muttered. “I’m losing my grip.”

“Just go back to the moment you left me and tell me about it, it’ll all work out fine,” the Master told him. 

“Not sure I want to, now I know she’s you,” said Nine.

The Master smiled.

“Liar.”

“Yeah, alright,” Nine agreed, caving. “Can’t deny I’m curious to see what you’re like, as a human.”

“She’s brilliant,” said the Doctor, with a soft smile. “You won’t regret it. Not ever.”

“So you say,” said Nine, his voice dry. “All right, then. I’ll do it. I’ll go back and ask.”

“Just one thing,” said the Doctor, and he sounded apologetic. “When I went back for Rose, I had no idea she was really the Master under a Chameleon Arch. Which means you can’t, either.”

“You want to take my memories,” said Nine, voice flat.

The Doctor nodded, his face full of regret.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I know what it’s like, all that time thinking you’re alone, but we both know that the integrity of our personal timeline has to be preserved.”

And the Doctor took a step towards Nine.

“Hold on a sec,” said the Master. Both regenerations looked at her.

Before the Doctor could lock away Nine’s memory of this meeting, the Master threw her arms around Nine’s neck and kissed the hell out of him, while next to them the current version of the Doctor went, “Oh, come _on_.”

Finally the Master broke away from Nine, grinning.

“What was that for?” Nine looked stunned. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“Because you’re fantastic,” said the Master, “and the best thing that’s ever going to happen to me, and because all that time as Rose and I never once got the chance to snog you properly. So there.” She stepped back, so that the Doctor could move forward into Nine’s personal space.

They looked at each other for a moment.

“Make sure I get those memories back,” said Nine, looking resigned, like he didn’t want to give up the memory of no longer being alone but knew that he had to, for the sake of the timeline.

“I will,” the Doctor promised, serious and solemn.

“Right – then get on with it.”

The Doctor passed the Master the bunch of bananas he was still holding, before he pressed his fingers to his past-self’s temples, and both of them closed their eyes.

“Remember, he has to go back and tell me the TARDIS travels in time,” said the Master. “Don’t forget to leave that suggestion behind.”

“I’m not an amateur,” the Doctor grumbled absently, his eyes still closed. A moment later he stepped back, opening his eyes.

“Right, we’ve got about thirty seconds before he comes to himself again,” said the Doctor, taking the Master’s hand, “so… _run!_ ”

They ran, all the way back to where they’d parked the TARDIS. Only when they were inside the TARDIS and she was de-materialising did they stop, breathless and smiling.

The Master put the bananas she was still holding down on the console room chair.

“So, when did you remember meeting us?” she asked, feeling curious.

“About three months ago,” said the Doctor, casual. “Remembered meeting me and you just now, and that we were married, and it made me think, _well, there’s an idea_.”

“You asked me to marry you because you’d remembered you were going to?” The Master was not impressed.

“Actually, I asked you to marry me because I wanted to be married to you,” the Doctor corrected, with a soft smile. “But remembering that I _could,_ helped.”

“You know, we should have an Earth ceremony,” the Master said idly. “Invite all your friends and companions. Give them an excuse to meet up and gossip.”

“I know you, you just want to see the shocked and horrified looks on their faces,” the Doctor accused.

The Master grinned, unrepentant.

“And?”

“Oh, I suppose we _could_ …” The Doctor sounded like he was thinking about it.

The Master smiled, and gleefully began to plan out a wedding in her head. This was going to be…

_ Fantastic _ .

**Author's Note:**

> _Nine is my favourite Doctor, so why is he so difficult for me to write??_
> 
>  
> 
> _Also, this is the last fic in the series. For the moment, anyway. No promises to write more._


End file.
